Tinubu launches Nigeria re-election bid in Kaduna

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu launched his re-election campaign on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, with a rally at Ranchers Bees Stadium in Kaduna, telling supporters that his opponents “created the hunger” he is now trying to end.

The vote is about three months away. Nigeria’s electoral commission has set the presidential election for Jan. 16, 2027, according to its revised timetable as reported by The Guardian Nigeria, and the campaign opens with Tinubu defending a cost-of-living crisis that followed his 2023 decision to scrap the gasoline subsidy.

“They created the hunger, they created the poverty. We are trying to eradicate it,” Tinubu said, according to Vanguard. The Associated Press quoted him as saying: “I hear my opponents talking about hunger and poverty. Who created it? They did.” He also said the subsidy is “in the past” and promised “no more corruption, no more lies,” the AP reported. He asked Nigerians for a second term.

Not every reaction in the stadium was warm. Daily Trust reported that a section of the crowd shouted “Ba ma yi,” a Hausa expression meaning roughly that they do not support him, as he took the podium. People the newspaper spoke to cited insecurity and harsh economic policies. Tinubu asked the crowd “Kaduna,” and when the crowd answered differently, he said “Sai Uba Sani” himself, backing Kaduna’s governor.

Daily Trust said All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman Nentawe Yilwatda presented the party flag to the governors of seven north-western states, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara, all of whom are in their first term and seeking re-election. Governors from 11 other states, chief of staff Femi Gbajabiamila and Speaker Tajuddeen Abbas were also present, the newspaper said. Premium Times reported that supporters began sleeping at the stadium on Friday night to secure seats.

Tinubu faces more than a dozen challengers, the AP reported, though analysts expect a three-way race. Atiku Abubakar, a former vice-president, is running for the African Democratic Congress, and Peter Obi, a former Anambra governor, for the Nigeria Democratic Congress. The two formed an alliance in 2025 that collapsed. In 2023, the electoral commission recorded about 8.7 million votes for Tinubu, 6.9 million for Atiku and 6.1 million for Obi. Analyst Majeed Dahiru told the AP the contest “is not going to be a walkover for any of the contending parties.”

Atiku inaugurated his own campaign council in Abuja this month and, in a response to Tinubu’s remarks, said the president could not “light fire of hardship, then blame your neighbours for the smoke,” according to a headline on Daily Trust. The full statement was not available to Canada News Media at publication.

For Canadians, the choice of Kaduna is notable. The Government of Canada’s travel advice for Nigeria, last updated Oct. 21, tells Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to the country, including Abuja, and to avoid all travel to the north-western states of Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara because of terrorism, armed attacks, kidnapping and inter-communal violence. The update also added an outbreak monitoring alert for Ebola, after Nigeria confirmed its first case on Oct. 20; the patient was later identified as the wife of a Swiss diplomat.

Canada has a sizeable Nigerian diaspora. Statistics Canada’s 2021 census counted 43,875 Black Canadians who reported only Nigerian ethnic or cultural origin and another 23,020 who reported it along with another origin. Those figures cover only the Black population and understate Canadians of Nigerian descent overall.

Canada News Media has also reported on talks between the West African bloc and Sahel states.

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Via the Associated Press, Vanguard, Daily Trust and Premium Times.